Tuesday
Wife had a meeting after work, so it was just me and the little one until 6:30 when my in-laws picked him up. After I picked him up from work, we grabbed a slice a pizza and went home where he insisted on working on bikes. I cleaned a cassette and mounted tires on the wheels I bought from Mare a few weeks back and fitted the fenders to my cross bike since Wednesday was looking to be wet. The wheels are dura-ace hubs with blue open pro rims. I converted them to tubeless with the stans tape and mounted the tires with little issue other than leaking stans sealant all over.
Ride did not happen until 7:00, which is about the exact opposite of the time I would normal ride. I opted for a short loop and the loop I picked was perfect from the strong winds from the ssw. I was cruising through the first part of the ride with a nice tailwind and I think around mile 11 my average was 21.3, so obviously I was getting some help from MN. I ment to turn outside of Hopewell but blew right past the road I had planned on, so improvised from there. Somehow I never caught a headwind, which doesn’t happen very often.
screaming man with beak and horns
Wednesday
As expected, work up to rain on Wednesday morning and headed out on the cross bike. This was my first ride since last spring with fenders. Holy hell, what a difference. Say what you will about fenders, but your feet and ass (more so your feet) stay much, much drier with fenders. It was 60 degrees out, so I would have been fine without fenders, but I was glad I put them on. It wasn’t raining to hard, but the roads were wet and the fenders kept me dry. I started on my normal morning loop and opted for woosamonsa instead of poor farm. A minute after I made that decision, I realized it was the wrong one since The Woos (as the locals call it, where the locals is defined by myself) has a heavy canopy and the wet road was littered with leaves from shoulder to shoulder. One a dry day, no biggie, but in the wet and rain, it pretty much sucked. To top that, I slid off something with my front wheel, which gave me a good scare and that something turned out to be a smashed pumpkin. I hit another one about a ¼ mile up the road. F’ing kids.
Since I picked a good route on Wednesday for the weather conditions, I decided to pick the worst route on this morn, selecting to take roads going directly into the wind. I also went over the closed bridge on 579 where the road leading to the bridge looks more like the forest floor then a road, which equals more wet leaves and debris. I also choose to go around the mercer county airport because an open field and tarmac are good for blocking wind. Anyhow, rode for about an hour, stopped home and then rode to work.
The Woos Pumpkins
Thursday
Apparently, Thursday is my explosion day. Last week I had a not-so-good ride on Thursday after riding the whole week and this week was the same thing. I felt better on this ride but I didn’t have the pep I normally would. It was warm though, so couldn’t complain about that. Rode through the golf course in Princeton, which was incredibly creepy with the moon light and fog. While riding past the chateau there was a loud bag from right in front of the building, yet I didn’t see anyone in the courtyard. About that time a car that was parked turned on it lights (in my head I heard that loud shriek that is used in horror movies) and started creeping out. This wasn’t helping that creeping feeling, so I boogied on out of there. Right before the exit, I almost got hit my one of the grounds keepers that was driving his chevy celebrity like a porche. He didn’t see me until I shined my helmet in his face (I was like 3 feet from the car) and saw this:
Still felt like poo when I got to the office though. Damn that picture make me giggle though.
surprised monkey
Lunch time was not showing anything promising as far as stuff to read or people to talk to, so I ran an errand at lunch on the bike. 11 something mile on the road and canal and even went through a bank drive through on a bike. I could tell the people waiting in line behind me were perturbed. Felt better on this ride.
Personal Time
So Norm asked me about thing I do/like other than riding, my wife and the shower at work. I felt mad pressure to come up with something, but in the end I am fairly uninterested in anything other than bikes. Yes I watch tv, but I really don’t think anyone wants to hear about gossip girl and glee, so I don’t talk about that. I like things relate to skating, but I don’t actively pursue magazines or videos, but if I catch something online or on tv, I will watch it. Music is the same way, I always listen but don’t go much further than that. I like working on my house and in the yard and such, but not much more than actually just doing it. I do every project myself though and of all the things I have done in my house, I only had help with one. I am not surprised it was a surprise about doing FF this year and honestly I like doing it so if I do watch football, I have something to look for / cheer for. That has not worked this year though as I find I just don’t give a crap about football. I will watch some parts of games, but I am more interested in an amazing catch or play then I am about the score and who is winning and losing. But seriously, when it comes down to it bikes are the pinnacle of when I am interested in by far. I don’t know if that makes me boring or what, but it is just the way it is.